


Faal Yuvon Dovah

by VioletWizard



Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age: Inquisition, Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
Genre: Adventure, Crossover, Dragonborn | Dovahkiin in Thedas (Dragon Age), Gen, Other Additional Tags to Be Added
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-01
Updated: 2019-07-29
Packaged: 2019-09-05 00:10:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 16,145
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16799806
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VioletWizard/pseuds/VioletWizard
Summary: Hallendir - the Last Dragonborn - and her companion Marcurio come accross a peculiar mirror in the ruins of Avanchnzel. They end up in an odd realm far, far away from Nirn, where dragons don't speak, elves are the oppressed ones and magic doesn't work the way it's supposed to.And of course there's a giant hole in the sky that's going to destroy the world.





	1. Chapter 1

“So what do you think this is?” 

Hallendir looked over her shoulder to where Marcurio was standing.

“A mirror, maybe,” the Altmer woman replied. She closed the lid of the Dwemer chest she’d been going through, pocketing the soul gem she’d found and joined Marcurio on the raised part of the room.

There were two shelves made from the golden-bronze Dwemer metal, filled with various tools, most of them broken. Between the shelves stood something that greatly resembled a mirror. The tall object clearly wasn’t a normal mirror, however. It did not reflect anything - instead its grey-ish surface looked like some sort of liquid slowly swirling, rather than anything solid. And despite being in a Dwemer ruin, it didn’t look to be of Dwemer make, the frame made from some sort of light-blue stone with intricate carved details.

“What’s it doing here? I doubt this was made by a Dwemer, unless someone was feeling very experimental with their style and materials,” Marcurio pointed out, moving to take a closer look at the tools on the shelf.

“Hmm. Maybe it’s from Snow elves? A gift? Or payment for sanctuary?”

“Could be. Hard to say. The Snow Elves didn’t exactly leave many artefacts behind. And there’s no asking Falmer,” he said and stepped back next to Hallendir to inspect the mirror.

“I didn’t see any mirrors in the Vale, but given the state of the place, that’s not surprising. I’d suggest we take it back to the College, but it looks like it’s way too heavy for that…” Hallendir said and reached out to grab the mirror in order to test if they could move it at all.

But as soon as she touched the frame, a ripple went through the mirror’s surface. A sudden, utter feeling of _wrongness_ struck both Marcurio and Hallendir and they took a step back.  


A crack split the mirror in two, blinding light spilling from it.

“Get back!” Hallendir yelled and shoved Marcurio towards the open doors leading out of the room. They both turned to run and-

~:~

There was a flash of green.  


And then she was falling. She just wasn’t sure in which direction.  


She’d lost her grip on Marcurio. Where was the floor? Where was the room? There was just dark grey emptiness all round her, whooshing past her at great speed.  


Before she could wrap her head around whatever was happening, suddenly the scenery changed. She was falling down into a group of islands floating in the grey-green air.  


_Oh, shit, no._  


What she expected to be a painful and humiliating end to her life turned out to not hurt anymore than falling off a bed as she fell to the ground with a thump. For a moment, she simply stayed still, sprawled on her back and staring at the cloudless grey sky.  


_What the heck?_  


“...what in the name of the Eight?” someone echoed her thoughts a short distance away. She sat up and saw Marcurio lying not far away from her, with the most confused expression she’d ever seen on his face.  


“Are you alright?” she asked, getting up and checking her equipment. She still had all her weapons - her Nightingale blade, ebony dagger and Auriel’s Bow - though her arrows were all over the colorless ground. She started picking them up, pausing to glance at Marcurio, who’d gotten up as well and was looking around in astonishment.  


“What is this place?” he asked.  


Hallendir looked around. There were floating islands of varying sizes as far as the eye could see. Some appeared to be constructed from natural elements, trees and rocks. Some appeared to have parts of houses or other buildings, but it all seemed... wrong. There was no way they were on Nirn anymore.  


“I’m not sure. If it’s a plane of Oblivion, I’m not familiar with this one,” she said, looking up in the direction they’d fallen from. She tried to look for a spot of purple or any other color, any sign that there’d been a portal there. But either they were too far away or there simply wasn’t any trace of their entrance to whatever realm they were now in.  


“We’ll have to be cautious, this may be a trap or a failed trick of the Dwemer,” Hallendir said, drawing her Nightingale sword. “Let’s have a look around, shall we?”

~:~

Unfortunately, there wasn’t much to look at.  


The island - while it was big enough that they could not see the edges - was very monotone. It seemed to be mostly comprised of rocks, stones and the occasional floating book. Hallendir had picked one from the air, but it didn’t have a single legible letter in it, as did none of the others they could reach. There’d also been a set of chairs made by someone who apparently had no idea what chair’s function was or hated anyone who wanted to sit down. Next to the chairs there was a statue of a human - or something closely resembling one - except for the fact it had four unnaturally long arms and no fingers. It might have passed for a very insulting portrayal of Mehrunes Dagon.  


Otherwise there wasn’t much anything of note. No clues to tell them where on Mundus or Oblivion they were now.  


At first, the place reminded Hallendir of Hermaeus Mora’s realm - he had made it clear he was not yet done with the Last Dragonborn, it would’ve made sense. But something was off. There had been a mirror, not a Black Book. And the scenery was different from Apocrypha - no tentacles, no pools of dark acid, considerably less books and not a single Daedra in sight. Just a rocky island that felt wrong. And by now, surely the Lord of the realm would’ve announced himself.  


“I’m sure you noticed yourself, but I just want to point out,” Marcurio said quietly, breaking the tense silence, “that there seems to be nothing of Dwemer origin here.”  


“I noticed. Doesn’t mean this isn’t a trap, but at least one the Dwemer aren’t guilty of,” Hallendir responded.  


“Well, that’s one point for them. And a thousand minus points for all the traps they did make.”  


“I don’t think the Dwe-”  


She was cut short as a deafening boom sounded all around them.  


Hallendir and Marcurio both covered their ears. It didn’t help at all.  


She tried to look around for the source of the godless noise. But either the pain was so bad it made her sight blur or the sound made the entire island shiver.  


Soon enough it died to a low rumble, though. Hallendir and Marcurio hesitantly lowered their hands.  


“I have just decided I hate this place,” Marcurio declared.  


“Agreed,” she said. She took a double take as she suddenly spotted something in the distance. A shade of green was spreading over the grey sky, making it swirl in a restless manner.  


“I don’t like the look of that either,” he said.  


“Shush. It’s something other than this grey emptiness. Might even be our way out.”  


“There weren’t any green magical storms around the mirror,” he pointed out.  


Hallendir just gave him a tired glare. He had a point, but this place made her feel restless. Doing something seemed a better idea than doing nothing.  


Marcurio sighed. “Alright then. Let’s go investigate.”

~:~

As they walked towards the swirling green clouds, it seemed to slowly spread to the whole sky. So far it seemed harmless. Though like the rest of the realm, it just appeared wrong somehow.  


The closer they got, the thicker the air seemed to get. The green clouds hung low, forming dark green mist and making it harder and harder to see.  


“I have a bad feeling about this,” Marcurio said, nervous. “What if the green mist is poisonous?”  


“It’s spreading over the whole island. If it’s harmful, it’ll get us anyway eventually.”  


“You sure know how to cheer a man up.”  


“I also do have antidotes in my bag.”  


“Oh. Maybe next time mention that first-” Marcurio stopped, as they heard a noise from somewhere behind them. An alarmed shout.  


Hallendir tried to see a glimpse of whoever had yelled, but the mist prevented them from seeing clearly for more than a few meters.  


She gripped her sword’s hilt. “If there’s going to be a battle, make sure to stay within eyesight,” Hallendir said, stretching the fingers on her free hand, making sure she’d be ready to cast at a moment’s notice. Marcurio nodded, readying himself for casting as well.  


She took a step to the direction the shout had come from. “Who goes there? We mean no harm!”  


There was no reply. As Hallendir was considering whether to continue towards the source of the green cloud or to go see who had shouted, she suddenly could hear light footsteps. Coming towards them. And fast.  


She had no time to warn Marcurio, as a mer soon emerged from the mist. Who was startled upon noticing them, and stopped so fast it was a wonder they did not fall over.  


_A Bosmer?_ Hallendir thought upon noticing the short mer’s dark skin and hair. _No, her face is too soft, and the eyes are too humanlike._  


Whoever this half-breed was, she seemed utterly surprised to see them, and was staring at them with her mouth slightly open.  


_Maybe she can at least tell us where we are_. Hallendir was just about to ask, but the short elf was faster.  


Her face changed from surprised to wary and she took a more defensive pose as she barked a question at them.  


Or so Hallendir assumed, since she did not understand a single word the half-mer said.  


It wasn’t Bosmeri, she’d recognise that, nor did it sound like any other language Hallendir was familiar with.  


“Pardon?” Hallendir asked. “Do you speak Tamrielic? The common language?”  


The half-mer looked at her like she’d just grown another head.  


“Can you...understand what I’m saying?”  


Hallendir tried repeating the question in Aldmeris, to no avail. The half-mer took a step back from them, speaking something in her odd language - to herself or to them, Hallendir couldn’t tell.  


“Um, how about we try not scaring the only other person we’ve seen here?” Marcurio said. He tried to give a friendly and reassuring smile to the half-mer, raising his arms in a gesture to tell he meant no harm. “Can you tell us where are we? What this place-” he pointed to all around them, “-is? Do you know?”  


The half-mer seemed even more apprehensive, eyes flicking between Marcurio and Hallendir.  


“You’re making it worse. Let me try,” Hallendir said, sheathing her sword since the half-mer looked like she was more likely to run away than to attack them. “We fell here, through a portal in the sky,” she spoke slowly, pointing at the sky and then making a downwards motion with her hand. “There was a mirror, in a Dwemer ruin and - I don’t think she’s getting any of this.” The half-mer’s expression had gone more and more blank as Hallendir spoke and gestured.  


“Nope,” Marcurio agreed.  


The half-mer looked behind her, then back at them. She said something in a hesitant voice.  


“I...still have no idea what you’re saying,” Hallendir said.  


The half-mer repeated what she’d just said. And got no response. Then she tried to tell them something with a lot of slow words and hand waving.  


“She’s...talking about something with horns?” Marcurio guessed as the half-mer kept gesturing something above her head.  


“Dremora? Daedra? Are there Daedra here?” Hallendir asked the half-mer.  


The half-mer frowned and didn’t answer. After a moment of thinking, she flailed her arms and attempted to mimic the sound made by fire or explosion. Or strong wind maybe.  


“Flame Atronach? They have horns, don’t they?” Hallendir pointed the question at Marcurio.  


“I think so,” he replied. “But I don’t see what that has to do with anything.”  


The half-mer still didn’t seem satisfied with their response, shaking her head. She glanced around for something. Finally she seemed to have an idea. She pointed at Marcurio, saying something short, and then pointed to Hallendir’s sword, speaking a different word. Then she pointed at them both at the same time, formed her hands into fists and bumped them together in front of her.  


“She...wants you to punch me...with your sword?” Marcurio guessed tentatively.  


“It usually takes longer for people to wish for that after meeting you,” Hallendir said, smiling despite trying not to. “And no, I don’t think that’s-”  


A sudden screech made them all startle.  


There was a sound coming from the mist. Something - no, several somethings were approaching.  


“That doesn’t sound like Atronachs,” Marcurio pointed out.  


The half-mer, now looking frightened, spoke something in a fast pace. Before they had a chance to respond, she slipped past them, hurrying towards the direction they’d been heading.  


She paused to gesture for them to follow, but did not stay to wait and see if they did. Her form was quickly disappearing into the mist.  


“Should we run as well?” Marcurio asked, his gaze going from Hallendir to where the screech had come from.  


Hallendir would’ve preferred they stand their ground and fight off whatever was coming towards them - but then _something_ moved in the mist, something massive with an impressive number of either horns or limbs. Or tentacles. She could not make out any details, but the dov inside her seethed, restless and alert.  


Whatever was out there, she decided that she did not in fact want to fight it.  


“Leaving sounds good. Let’s go,” she said to Marcurio.  


And with that they started running after the half-mer. Hallendir wasn’t sure if the source of the mist was the best direction to go anymore, but they didn’t exactly have the time to discuss their options.  


Within a few moments they arrived at the foot of a hill surrounded by jagged boulders and caught up with the half-mer. It was only then that they glanced back. The sight made Hallendir’s blood chill.  


A mass of black creatures, screeching and snapping, crawled after them. The creatures’ appearances shifted, one moment they resembled a black dragon with blood-red eyes, the other a faceless mass of tentacles and eyes. More and more of them poured out of the mist.  


And they were closing in.  


“By the Eight, what are those?” Marcurio managed to ask, his expression that of horror.  


It was the half-mer who answered. They didn’t understand the words, but the message was clear enough. Keep running.  


The half-mer was the fastest climber, with her light armor, no baggage of any kind and being the most slender of the three of them. Marcurio was next, partially for the same reasons, though he was bulkier and was carrying all his potions and books with him. Hallendir with her heavier armor and weapons was the slowest and struggled a bit to keep up with others.  


As they neared the top of the hill, Hallendir noticed a warm glow; a figure resembling a human seemingly made out of sheer golden light appeared, reaching a hand out towards them.  


The creatures were coming closer and closer, Hallendir could feel their breath on her neck, she was going to die here, running away like a frightened child, ripped to shreds-  


Just as the half-mer reached towards the golden figure, the warm light spread, enveloping them. The blinding light made Hallendir shut her eyes. It felt like her head was going to split, her lungs hurt, there was an ache in her left hand, the light burned through her eyelids and-  


And then she was falling again.  


This time the impact hurt.  


There were sounds. Voices. People? She could smell smoke and burning flesh and dust, hear footsteps and the clanking of metal and a fire cracking not too far.  


She opened her eyes to catch a glimpse of a blue sky ripped open by a green void, just before it all went black.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In which a lot of people are unhappy

Hallendir was not happy. 

She’d woken up to sore limbs and a dry mouth. A quick glance revealed that she was in a dark room with stone walls, with one side blocked by thick metal bars. A cell. She tried to lift her hand to rub her eyes but realised that her wrists were bound. All her weapons and bags were gone. At least she still had her ancient Snow Elven armor. 

On the other side of the metal bars in the wide hallway there were two men, guards by the look of them. Both of them were startled when Hallendir raised her head. 

“I’ll go inform the Seeker. You stay and keep an eye on that,” one them muttered and left in a hurry. The other one looked like he wanted to protest but said nothing. 

_Seeker?_

Hallendir took a closer look at the one staying put. Human, not old but not young either. The helmet prevented Hallendir from seeing his whole face, but he looked nervous. He was gripping the hilt of his sword and shifting his weight, eyes glancing about like he couldn’t decide did he want to look at Hallendir or not. On his armor there was an insignia which Hallendir didn’t recognise. Not a guard of any of Skyrim’s Holds then. He looked too short to be a Nord, anyway. Mercenary, perhaps? 

“You,” Hallendir began but paused to clear her throat when her voice came out hoarse. The guard stared at her with a slightly shocked look, like he hadn’t expected for her to speak. “Guardsman. What is this place?” 

“Don’t speak to me, demon-elf,” he spat. “ I won’t fall for any of your tricks.” 

_Demon-elf?_ That was a new one, and as an Altmer in Skyrim Hallendir had heard a quite a variety of insults. 

“Look, whatever is the reason for me being locked in a cell, I’m sure we can work it out. Who do you work for?” she asked calmly. 

“Be silent, demon,” was the response. 

“What do you mean by ‘demon’? I’m obviously not a Daedra, if that’s what you mean.” It was then that she noticed besides her weapons she was also missing a person. “Where is my companion?” 

The guard smirked in an uncertain manner. “Your apostate friend is being interrogated. Soon, it’ll be your turn. And then the Templars will deal with you.” 

Well, that didn’t sound good, even if she had no idea who these Templars were. Or what he meant by an apostate. 

“...very well. I don’t suppose you could bring whoever your leader is here, so I could talk to them?” If whoever was in charge here shared the guard’s attitude, talking might not help her get out of the cell, but at least she could maybe buy time. And figure out who or what she was dealing with. 

“No, I don’t think so. Like I said, it’ll be your turn soon. You’ll get what you deserve for killing all those people.” 

_What?_

Her latest memory was of climbing, trying to reach a golden light. And then she’d...fallen? How long ago was that? In any case, she was fairly certain she had not killed any number of people between then and now. Or so she hoped. She could not remember what had happened after hitting the ground and that worried her. 

But she was sure she wouldn’t have murdered a bunch of innocents. There had to be an explanation for all of this. But she wouldn’t find any answers by sitting in a cell. 

“Where have you taken my weapons?” she asked. 

“Wouldn’t you like to know.” Well, it was worth a shot. 

“Do you have the key to these?” She held up the shackles. 

The guard stayed silent for a moment. “No.” It was one of the worst lying attempts Hallendir had ever seen. 

“Alright.” 

Carefully, she rose to her feet, made difficult by the shackles and by the fact that her arms and legs still ached. Ugh, this wasn’t going to be pleasant. She took a deep breath. 

The guard was not pleased with her moving and glared at her, drawing his blade. “Stay down, demon. I won’t hesitate to-” 

**“FUS RO DAH!”**

The Shout send the guard flying backwards. He hit bars of the cell behind him, and crumbled to the floor, unconscious. The door of Hallendir’s cell held, but barely, it’s frame and bars warped by the Shout’s force. 

Hallendir was disappointed that she had to kick the door twice to bring it down. It fell to the floor with a loud _clank_. 

There was no way all that noise had gone unnoticed, so she’d have to work fast. Already she could hear muffled yells and footsteps from above. Was she in an underground floor? 

Wincing at the slight pain caused by moving, she kneeled down next to the guard and quickly checked his belt for - aha! A keyring. One of the keys had to be for her shackles. 

She started going through them one by one, but soon realised she wouldn’t have the time to go through them all. The noises were growing louder. Without her weapons she had very little in the way of defending herself. If only she had her spells... 

_Wait a second._

It was at this moment she realised the guards had put regular metal shackles on her. She tested her magicka, just to make sure. Yes, it felt as it always did. 

What kind of an imbecile locked an Altmer in a cell and didn’t have their magicka drained? They must have been very confident in their ability to keep her locked up. Or they were incompetent idiots. Or both. 

It was a relief that she could somehow defend herself, but she’d rather avoid fighting at all until she knew what was going on. And until she had her weapons with her as well. 

Looking around the dungeon, it seemed to consist of one long corridor with cells and alcoves lining it. There were no windows, the only light sources being the torches on the walls. Hallendir was at one end of the corridor, the only way out being towards the sound of armored footsteps. 

_I hope this will work._

She ran towards the sound as quietly as she could. Just as a door opened on the left wall of the corridor, Hallendir stepped to the side and hid in one of the alcoves. Before the people coming down the hallway reached her spot, she cast Chameleon. Her form shimmered and blended with her surroundings. Then she stayed as still and silent as possible. 

A group of guards - five of them, with swords drawn - ran past her in a hurry. 

By the time they reached the knocked out guard still lying down on the floor, Hallendir was already sneaking down the corridor. 

She made her way to the doorway where the guards had come from, which lead her to a staircase leading up. She took a moment to find the key for her shackles and after having her hands freed, made her way upstairs. 

She arrived in a spacious room lit by torches. There were two heavy wooden doors on the opposite walls of the room - the one she’d entered from and one on the other side. Some red tapestries were hanging off the walls. There were also a few tables with papers, inkwells and quills and lined next to the walls there were chests. To her delight, Hallendir noticed the hilt of the Nightingale’s blade slightly sticking out from one of them. 

Before she could get to the chest, however, she heard more footsteps. Not from the staircase, but from behind the other door. Quickly casting another Chameleon, she moved to stand beside the door with her back against the wall. The fact that this room was better lit and more open than the underground corridor was concerning - the spell might not work so well here. 

A moment later the door opened and two guards entered, followed by a woman with black hair and dark armor with the same insignia on it as with the guards - the eye pierced by a sword. 

The guards went straight towards the stairway, but the woman slowed her step to look behind her. She had scars on her cheeks and the demeanor of a seasoned warrior. For a second her eyes stayed right where Hallendir was standing. Hallendir held her breath. 

_I can’t reach the chest before she reaches me. Damnit_ , she thought. _I’ll have to summon a blade. Maybe an atronach as well? It would buy me some time, but-_

“Lady Seeker?” one of the guards called from the stairway. 

“Coming,” the woman answered and followed the others down the stairs, throwing one last glance over the room. 

Once she was gone, Hallendir let out a sigh of relief. _So she’s the one called Seeker. Wonder if it’s a title or a name. But now that they’re gone..._

She tiptoed over to the chest and a rare smile spread over her face. It vanished the moment she realised that Auriel’s Bow wasn’t with the rest of her belongings. All the soul gems were also missing and her Amulet of Akatosh. She dug through the other chests as quietly and fast as she could, but they were either empty or held more inkwells, ledgers, books and other things she had no use for. 

The soul gems and the amulet didn’t matter that much, but there was no way she was letting anyone take the Bow from her, after all the trouble she’d gone through to obtain it. And it was too powerful for her to leave it in unknown hands. 

And she was still missing a companion of hers. The guard had mentioned something about an interrogation. Hopefully that meant Marcurio was being held in the same building then. 

After a silent thanks to Nocturnal, she left the room to find her friend.  


~:~  


Marcurio was not having a good time. 

“It seems your friend is causing some ruckus,” the red haired woman wearing a hood remarked. She was looking at the door through which the angry black haired woman had left just a moment ago. An alarmed guard had stormed in, yelling something about a demon being on the loose. 

It had taken him a moment to realise they were talking about Hallendir. 

Marcurio let out a nervous laugh. “Haha, yeah, well, she probably just doesn’t like the accommodations.” The woman showed zero signs of being amused. 

It was a relief to know that Hallendir lived and apparently was also now free. The later was something Marcurio currently was not. His hands were bound with rope and the soldiers who had dragged him to this room had made him kneel on the stone floor. After that, the two women had kept asking him about some Breach and Conclave and mage rebellion and what not. 

At least the angrier woman had left, she’d seemed pretty likely to resort to violence soon. Not that the red-haired one didn’t look dangerous. She gave him the impression you wouldn’t see it coming when she did decide to resort to violence. 

She lifted an eyebrow at Marcurio. “If you’re innocent, as you claim you are, I wonder why is she trying to escape? It’s more of an action of the guilty, no?” 

Marcurio swallowed. _That’s a good point. Unfortunately._

He wondered what was the plan here. Or was there even a plan. If Hallendir had decided the best course of action was to flee, should he be trying that as well? She was in a way better position to do jailbreak, however. She’d never told him how long exactly she’d been in the Thieves’ Guild - something he was grateful for, since he didn’t really want to know about her criminal life - but she was far more likely to actually succeed in getting out of...whatever this place was. 

He, on the other hand, had very little experience on escaping prisons. None, in fact. He could try to fight his way out, but he was bound, outnumbered and would most likely get stabbed to death by the redhead before he could accomplish anything. So no, escape was not currently an option for him. These people, whoever they were, had his life in their hands, so he would play nice until he’d find a way to talk himself out of all this. Or until Hallendir came to the rescue. 

If she did. 

So for now, he’d do what he did best. Keep talking. “Maybe she’s escaping because - like me - she doesn’t quite understand what are we being blamed for. I don’t know what kind of justice system you have here, but where I’m from, the prisoners have a chance to defend themselves.” 

“You have a chance to defend yourself, if you began to answer the questions.” 

“I have, to the best of my ability, but-” There was no sympathy on the woman’s face. He almost wished he was back in his cell, just so he wouldn’t have to deal with this. It wasn’t his fault he had no idea what on Tamriel they were talking about. “So, just to be clear, what are we being accused of, exactly?” 

She gave him a hard stare, but her voice was even. “The Breach. The giant rift to the Fade, spewing demons as we speak. And the destroyed Conclave, the death of the Divine. _That_ is what you’re being accused of.” 

“I don’t even know what those things are!” 

“Don’t lie, you’re obviously a mage. How can you claim not to know?” 

“Very easily, because I don’t. I’ve never heard of this- this Breach, or the Conclave or that Temple of Ashes you keep talking about,” Marcurio said, trying to keep frustration out of his voice. “And the only Divines I know are the Eight - or Nine, if you swing that way, I’m not judging - not this Justinia you’ve mentioned.” 

“What?” she asked in a raised voice, looking honestly baffled. “The Divine! The one leading the Chantry, the one who died when the Temple exploded! The one who was to bring peace between mages and templars. You cannot claim to have no knowledge of these things!” 

Marcurio did, in fact, not know anything about any of those things. But on this rare occasion he held his tongue and kept his gaze on the floor, fearing any answer he could give would only anger the woman more. 

She seemed to get frustrated by his silence as well and started to pace back and forth. Then she seemed to regain her calm and returned to stand before Marcurio. 

“Very well, let us speak of something else. The Dalish elf who was with you. Who is she?” she asked. 

“The...Dalish? Oh, you mean the short one?” She nodded. “No idea, sorry. Never seen her before yesterday. Was it yesterday?” 

She ignored his question. “So the mark on her hand? You have no idea what that is or how it got there?” 

“The...mark? What mark?” he asked, going through what hazy memories he had of meeting the half-Bosmer. She’d had some tattoos resembling branches on her cheeks, but he hadn’t really looked at her hands. “I...didn’t see any marks on her hands when I saw her. Not that I had time to look closely, we kind of had to leave in a hurry.” 

“What do you mean?” 

“Well, there were these-” 

Suddenly someone shouted from outside the room. 

“Alarm! Alarm! We’re under attack!” 

The two guards in the room drew their blades, ready for action, but they waited for the redhead to give orders. 

“Maker’s Breath, what- You, follow me,” she pointed to one of the guards, and then to the other one. “You, stay here and keep an eye on him.” 

The hooded lady left with the guard following close behind. The door was left slightly ajar after their exit. And then Marcurio was left with one unhappy guard. 

The room was filled with uneasy silence, with muffled sounds coming from behind the door. Marcurio fidgeted, tapping his knee with his index finger. 

“So…” he began, turning to the guard. “Can _you_ tell me what’s going on?” _Maybe she can help me figure out what the redhead wants from me. Or us._

“Are you daft or just pretending?” the guard asked, looking rather pissed off. Her sword was still in her hand, but luckily it didn’t look like she intended to use it. “A whole lot of people are dead and you and your friends are to blame. That’s what is going on.” 

“Yes, I realise that, and that sounds very bad and all. But why do you think we had anything to do with it?” 

“You three were the only ones to survive the explosion. Want to explain that?” 

“We- what?” 

“How did you survive? Go on, tell me. How is it that everyone else is - why are you staring behind me?” 

Marcurio tried for a deadpan expression. “No reason.” 

“If you think I’m gonna fall for-” 

The guard didn’t get to finish her sentence as a shimmering shape behind her struck the back of her head with something. Hard. The guard crumbled to the ground face first and her sword clattered next to her.  


~:~  


“Sorry about that,” Hallendir said as she dropped the Chameleon spell. She put away the Nightingale blade, carefully stepped over the guard and approached Marcurio. “Are you alright?” 

He smiled and shrugged. “Sore all over, but I’ll live.” She took out a dagger and cut the rope around his wrists. “Ah, that’s better. You have an idea of where we are? Or who are these people?” he asked, rubbing his wrists. 

“I was hoping you would.” 

“Damn.” Marcurio winced as he rose to his feet. His knees had not appreciated the cold stone floor. “I don’t know how much of that you heard, but they’re accusing us of killing some people, mainly some Divine they call Justinia. At some Temple of Sacred...Ashes? And creating something called a ‘Breach’. Also something about a Conclave and mages and templars and war. Or rebellion.” 

Hallendir frowned. None of that sounded familiar. She doubted they were in Skyrim anymore, due to a lack of Nords and the unfamiliar architecture of the building. And she’d know if there was a war going on - again - especially if there were mages involved. But where were they then? 

“Gods, I hate being in the dark,” Hallendir mumbled, giving Marcurio back his belongings she’d found alongside her own. “Alright, first of all, we’ll have to escape.” 

Marcurio raised his brows. “Are you sure? We could still try to talk to them, have them explain what is going on. And then we can explain that we didn’t do anything.” 

“I’d rather not until I know who I’m dealing with. And I’ve got a feeling these people aren’t all that willing to talk if they think we’ve committed mass murder.” Hallendir moved to the door, listening if anyone was nearby. Judging by the lack of noise they were still trying to solve who had given the alarm. Throwing her Voice was not something she did often, but it certainly had its uses. “You haven’t happened to see Auriel’s Bow, have you?” 

“Not since, you know, the weird place with floating stuff.” 

“ _Slek_. I’ll deal with that later, then. But first things first. We need an escape plan. There appears to be only one huge door leading out of the building, and it faces an entire village.” 

“Okay. I’m kind of assuming you have some idea.” 

“I’m working on it.” 

“You do that,” Marcurio said, stretching his limbs and wincing when they didn’t really appreciate that. He looked over to the guard. Her nose was bleeding, but she appeared to be still breathing, at least. “Is she going to be okay?” 

“Should be.” Hallendir tapped her chin with her finger, thinking. She was looking between the guard and Marcurio. “And I think I have a beginning of a plan.” 

Marcurio followed her gaze. “Oh, no. I’m not going to like this, am I?” 

“Maybe not. Could you take her uniform and put it on?” 

Marcurio sputtered. “What?! No no no no. I couldn’t- I can’t just take off her armor. It’s indecent.” 

Hallendir resisted the urge to curse. He sure picked a good moment for this. “Marcurio, there is a time and place to be a gentleman, but it is not when you might be facing an unjust execution. Unless... can you cast Chameleon or Invisibility?” 

He looked more and more uncomfortable with the discussion. “I specialise in Destruction. You know that.” 

“So that’s a ‘no.’ Disguise it is, then.” 

“But-” 

“Marcurio, the others might be back any second now. If you don’t have a better idea, I suggest you start changing.” 

Unfortunately, he did not have a better idea. 

Hallendir helped him to take the armor off and put it on. His robes wouldn’t fit under the armor so he had to stuff them in his bag. Hallendir politely turned her back to him while he undressed. And luckily the guardswoman was wearing a long-sleeved shirt and trousers under the armor, so she wasn’t going to freeze to death. Probably. 

The armor was a bit small, as he was slightly taller than the guard but not as muscular, and it felt uncomfortable on him. At least whoever had made the armor made it unisex, so it didn’t look odd on him. Just rather ugly, in his opinion. It didn’t restrict his movements as much as he’d expected, but he was still very much in favor of wearing robes. 

After being done with the armor he picked up the sword off the floor and managed to actually put it back in the sheath on the first try. He usually carried knives or such - no sense in being completely defenseless if you ran out of magicka - but they were a bit easier to handle than a longsword. 

“Hmm. Passable,” was Hallendir’s comment. “Let’s just hope nobody looks at you too closely.” 

Marcurio sighed. “So now what? Do I just walk out of here? What about you?” 

“I should be able to sneak out without problems. Don’t worry about me. Just don’t get caught, get to someplace without people. Keep your eyes down and if anyone asks what are you up to, tell them - tell them you have a mission from the Seeker.” 

“Um, the Seeker?” 

“Apparently someone who has some power here. Try to be vague about it.” 

“Great. Okay. What if I do get caught?” 

“Don’t. Now hurry. I’ll see you later.” 

Then she cast Chameleon again and went out of the door. 

Marcurio resisted the urge to sigh again. He hadn’t signed up for this.  


~:~  


He was stopped only two times on his way out of the village. 

First, when he stepped out of the massive doors leading out of the building he’d been held inside and had his first look of the outside world. And it was quite the sight. 

The big building he’d just exited and the village in front of it was built at the foot of a majestic, snow-covered mountain, with some pine trees growing where the mountain’s slopes weren’t too steep. It was early morning, by the looks of it. The sun was still barely above the horizon, making the mountain’s top look bright orange and leaving the rest in soft blue shadows. 

Behind the mountain he could see that it was a part of a huge mountain range, with this one being one of the smaller ones. Beyond the village, there was a big frozen lake. A bridge had been built on the ice-covered river running into the lake, and both the river and the road leading from the bridge travelled upwards, towards a huge mountain and- 

There was the Breach. 

He had no way of being sure, but the way they’d talked about it, what else could that be? 

A mass of green-shaded swirling clouds hung over the mountaintop and from the void in their center glowing green tendrils reached down. Occasionally the clouds flared, as if struck by lightning, and the rumble could be heard even down where he stood. All the while, the Breach and the surrounding clouds spat out what looked like green meteors, pieces of rock followed by a trail of smoke falling from the sky. 

These people thought they’d created _that_? 

That somewhat explained why they were so angry with them. Still, staring at the warped clouds, he felt certain that he and Hallendir had no part in the creation of that...thing. They couldn’t have. Surely not even she could’ve Shouted something like that into existence. 

It had to be a mistake. 

Right? 

Realising standing there and staring at the sky would get him nowhere and probably made him look suspicious, he continued down the paved road to the village. Few people glanced at him but nobody spoke to him. He send a prayer to the Eight it would stay that way. _Just look like you have business here. This is your job. I’m a guard, just walking around, doing... guard stuff._

When he noticed the hooded lady hurriedly walking up the road towards the big building, he kept his eyes down. To his relief she was busy talking to another guard and paid him no heed as they passed each other. 

But they were returning to where he was supposed to be, but where they now would only find one unconscious guard missing her uniform. 

He’d have to hurry. 

The village was rather small, but it was packed with people. Tents were raised wherever there was space and a lot of people - soldiers and villagers alike - were hurrying from one place to another. Surrounding the village there was a high wooden wall, but Marcurio spotted a gate down the road. 

The gate was open, with little traffic going through it. On either side of it there was a guard, both wearing uniforms similar to his, standing watch. Before he could get through, one of them addressed him. 

“Hey, you,” the guard said, making Marcurio stop. “Haven’t seen you before.” 

“Ah yes, well, I’m new, just joined the ranks,” he answered, hoping he wasn’t visibly shaking with how nervous he felt. If there was a fight, he would not be able to beat these numbers. And surrender seemed like a very poor option. 

The guard squinted at him. “Don’t recognise your accent. You one of them pilgrims who decided to join up?” 

Pilgrims? To that Temple, maybe? 

“Yes, I came to see the-” he realised he’d forgotten the full name of the place. Ashes or something? He nervously looked at the Breach, realising how suspicious he must have looked. 

To his surprise, the guard’s suspicion changed to pity. “Ah, yeah. I’d say you’re lucky, but I think that’d be disrespectful. So many dead and so many mourning.” 

Not knowing what to say, Marcurio just nodded. 

“But sorry, won’t keep you. And thanks for joining. Maker knows we can use all the help we can get.” 

Muttering something along the lines of ‘no problem’, Marcurio slipped through the gate, feeling a little guilty for some reason. And wondering who or what was this ‘Maker’? 

There was an encampment of soldiers some distance away from the gate, which Marcurio avoided. Now he was out, but where was Hallendir? He should probably head to somewhere away from the village, he realised, and hope Hallendir was following him. 

Wanting to have a better look at the Breach, he decided to head up the mountain path. The bridge was devoid of people, but there were carts and crates full of supplies. Swords, shields, bows. Tents and blankets. 

Marcurio frowned as he walked by. It looked like the were preparing for something. A battle? With who? 

Before he reached the other end of the bridge, he heard light footsteps coming up from behind. For one frightened moment, he thought the guards hadn’t bought his story after all and were coming after him. Or the hooded lady had indeed spotted him. 

But looking behind him, he saw nothing. Nothing but a shimmering shape. 

“Keep walking,” Hallendir’s voice said. “We’re still within eyesight.” 

“How aren’t you out of magicka yet?” Marcurio hissed the question as he continued up the mountain path. She was an Altmer, true, but even their magicka reserves had their limits. 

“I will be in a moment. So walk faster.” 

After some brisk walking they were far enough from the village that Hallendir felt comfortable dropping the Chameleon. She took a deep breath, the strain on her magicka finally gone. 

“Ugh, maybe I should’ve found a disguise as well,” she said, pulling out a magicka potion and drinking it one go. She put the empty vial back into her bag, and looked at the Breach. “That’s...not an Oblivion portal, is it?” 

“I’ve never seen one like that,” Marcurio said. Looking straight at the Breach made him feel queasy. “From what I understand, we were found up there. Us and that half-Bosmer we met.” 

Hallendir looked at him. “Truly? I do recall seeing a sky similar to that one, after the glowing figure but…” 

Marcurio remembered also seeing a glowing golden figure, but not really anything that happened afterwards. “What happened after that?” 

Hallendir was silent for a moment. “...I don’t know. And that bothers me.” She stared at the Breach. “But if that thing is connected to us arriving here, we’ll need to know what it is.” 

“It looks dangerous, if I may point out the obvious.” 

“Feel free to. But we’re going to take a closer look.” 

Marcurio sighed. He really, really wasn’t going to like this. 

“Alright then. But can I at least change back to my robes first?”


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In which Marcurio chooses to keep the outfit with lower stats because it looks cooler

They hid the guard’s uniform in one of the carts. 

Marcurio was going to simply leave it on one of the crates on the second bridge of the upwards leading path. Hallendir however told him they might as well leave a note for the guards telling where they were headed, so Marcurio tucked the armor under some thick blankets on the cart. 

“Are you certain you don’t want to keep it?” Hallendir asked, watching him arrange the blankets so no part of the armor was visible. “It might still be of use.” 

“No, I don’t,” he answered with small amount of disgust, now comfortable in his own orange-brown robes. “Besides, they must have found the guard missing her uniform by now and put two and two together. I don’t think it’s going to fool them again.” 

Hallendir shrugged. “Fair enough. Let’s just hope they won’t be sending out search parties.” 

There had been plenty of soldiers in the village and in the encampment so they had the numbers to send out some people if they wanted to. But they’d seemed busy preparing for something. Marcurio had mentioned something about a war or a rebellion, meaning they probably had bigger things to worry about than few escaped prisoners. 

“So, still no idea who those people are?” Marcurio asked as he rubbed his hands together to warm them. “Or where are we?” 

“Unfortunately, no. I didn’t recognize any of the emblems or insignias used in the village,” Hallendir answered. “Most of the population appears to be human though, Imperial or Breton maybe.” 

“Huh. Well, there’s snow so… somewhere north? The Jerall Mountains?” 

“Maybe. In that case, we should be able to see either the White-Gold Tower or Throat of the World from the summit.” 

The road weaved up the mountainside, following the least steep slopes. It was in surprisingly good shape and much wider than the mountain paths Hallendir had gotten used to in their travels in Skyrim. 

On their way up, they began hearing noise from down the mountainside, from the direction of the village. A steady chorus of voices and clatter and other ruckus. Hallendir gestured for Marcurio to stop. Carefully they creeped over to the edge of the road to take a peek. 

Far down the mountainside, over the bridge they’d crossed earlier there was an army heading up the road. 

There were dozens of soldiers wearing the same uniform they’d seen earlier - both bowmen and swordsmen - and a few horses pulling some carts. At the head of the group there was someone with a different colored uniform from the soldiers, but the distance was too great to see any more details. They were marching up the mountain with a slow but steady pace. 

Slowly and silently, Hallendir and Marcurio retreated from the edge. They both glanced at each other. There was tense silent for a moment. 

“So,” Marcurio said. 

“That’s not good,” Hallendir said. 

“No, it is not.” 

She took a moment to think, tapping her foot. It was not a search party, that much she was sure of. Too many people, too loud and slow. Heading the same way as them, presumably towards the Breach. For what purpose? Who were they fighting? 

There was a deafening crash that made them both jump. 

One of the meteors had crashed some way uphill of them, creating a shallow smoldering crater where it landed with black and green smoke rising from it. When they cautiously approached it, they noticed a few puddles of boiling black ooze around the crater. 

“What the heck was-” Marcurio started. 

Without warning, one of the puddles grew and formed into a dark creature that very distantly resembled a human. It’s body was elongated, face warped with a single glowing eye and body wrapped in an odd leathery looking robe. It let out a wheeze as it noticed them. 

Hallendir had never seen a creature like that. She drew her blade anyway - whatever the creature was it didn’t look friendly. It shrieked at her, flexing it’s bony hands. 

Behind it, from two other bubbles two misty forms rose - these one resembled more humans or ghosts of them, but they were blurry and light green color. 

The dark creature attacked, trying to claw at Hallendir. She dodged to the side and in a smooth downward move of her blade slashed off its left arm. The creature hissed and drew back, raising its another arm to cover the stump. 

She heard the faint crackle of electricity behind her. Marcurio was preparing a Chain Lightning no doubt. 

“No loud spells, Marcurio!” she ordered over her shoulder. If the army didn’t know they were here, they would if Marcurio started throwing around lightning. 

He let the spell fade, throwing his hands up and looking displeased. “What do you expect-” He had to duck out of the way of a magical bolt being aimed at his head by one of the misty beings. “-me to do then?” 

“Figure out something!” 

That something turned out to be snowballs thrown at the misty creatures. 

Swearing to herself in all the languages known to her, Hallendir focused back on the creature trying to claw off her face. _Note to self; next time ask Serana to come along. Or give Marcurio a damn bow._

The dark creature shrieked and reached for Hallendir again. She blocked the attack with her blade and with her free hand cast an Icy Spear right through the creature’s head. 

With a gurgle, it fell to the snowy ground and melted into grey goo that evaporated into the air with a slow sizzle. 

The misty creatures were faster than the first creature, but far weaker and they fell quickly to her blade. And to one very well aimed snowball. 

“What the hell were those things?” Marcurio asked once all the creatures were gone. 

“No idea. But that Breach-thing seems to create or summon them.” She turned to glare at him. “And thank you for being such a great help.” 

Marcurio shrugged, not looking all that apologetic. “Sorry, I don’t know any spells that are both quiet and can turn your enemy into a pile of ash. I’ll be sure to learn at least one of those when we get back to Skyrim.” 

She sighed. “Guess these things are what the army is coming to fight.” Speaking of the army, it was getting closer as they spoke. “Come on. Let’s get out of their way.” 

They hurried up the road, following it for a while. After they reached a flatter part of the mountain they left the path. 

On the other side of the frozen river running alongside the road, they could see the remains of two burned down houses. Smoke was still gently rising from the blackened wood. Hallendir and Marcurio hid behind the one that was more intact - meaning it still had more than one wall standing. The snow around the house was covered in footprints, as if several people had tried to put out the fire. Hopefully nobody would notice their tracks added into the mix.  


~:~  


It took longer than they expected for the army to arrive. 

_Did they stop to investigate the place where we fought the creatures?_

It was a worrying thought, but there was no evidence to indicate their escaped prisoners were involved. And with the amount of meteors falling from the sky, having one crash in the middle of the road was hardly noteworthy. 

Silently Hallendir and Marcurio watched from between the charred boards that previously had made up the house’s back wall as the army made its way up the mountain. From the corner of her eye, Hallendir noticed Marcurio frown as they saw the red-haired woman with a bow slung over her shoulder leading the army. But he said nothing and Hallendir didn’t ask, not yet anyway. 

Some of the soldiers were looking up at the Breach with a mix of awe and fear as they marched, some kept their eyes firmly on the road before them. There was little talking, few shouts or laughs here and there, but overall the army didn’t seem eager to face their foes. 

By the time the last of them had passed and disappeared up the road, the sun was high in the sky and Marcurio was quietly complaining about his freezing toes. 

“So. Is the plan still to go up the mountain?” he asked, lightly kicking his legs to warm them up. “I mean, if they’re going to this Breach thing, maybe we shouldn’t?” 

“Hmm. I’m not sure. I’d still like to know what it is, exactly. And we need to somehow find out where we are, and the summit would offer a good view.” 

“Yeah, I guess.” He crossed his arms and worriedly looked at the top of the mountain. 

Hallendir hesitated for a moment. “Did you recognise the woman at the head of the army?” 

“She was one of the people interrogating me. Really had the look of, you know, someone who has definitely killed people before. Or seen some shit.” 

She stared at him for a second. “Marcurio, we both have also killed plenty of people. And seen some shit.” 

“Yeah, but… good point, actually,” he agreed reluctantly. “Still though, I’d rather not be face to face with her again.” 

“Shouldn’t be an issue. Come on. I doubt they’ll be expecting us to follow them. Let’s keep our distance, stay out of sight and see what they’re up to.” 

Just as they were leaving their hiding spot, Hallendir saw movement from the corner of her eye - there was someone heading up the road. Damnit, had someone from the army been left behind? 

Quickly, she backed away from sight. And heard as the back of her armor collided with Marcurio’s face, who was knocked back and fell to the ground on his butt. 

“Ouch!” he yelped and raised his hands to his nose. “Can you not-” 

He promptly shut up seeing Hallendir’s warning glare, but it was too late. 

She could see from a crack between the boards that the person - another half-mer, bald and carrying a staff - had stopped and was clearly looking in their direction. They were wearing normal villager clothes instead of the soldier’s uniform. Not part of the army then? 

“I know you’re there. Come on out,” the half-mer called out. He didn’t look aggressive, but Hallendir did notice he shifted his grip on his staff, getting ready to cast with it. 

She looked over her shoulder to glare at Marcurio, who’d gotten up and just mouthed a silent ‘sorry’ at her. She merely shook her head and muttered: “Don’t worry about it.” 

She herself did worry though. How far was the army? It’d been a while since they passed, but they were moving slowly. Would they hear if the half-mer decided to try and alert them? Could she or Marcurio shut him up in time? Could they do so without killing him? She hoped so, but they’d have to just see how this went. 

“Come on. Let’s see if we can talk with this one,” Hallendir said quietly. “Try to look non-threatening.” 

“Me? Have you seen yourself?” 

Ignoring his comment, Hallendir came out from behind the burned house holding her hands up and showing that she wasn’t holding anything and meant no harm. Marcurio followed close behind, casting a mild restoration spell over his hurt nose. 

The half-mer looked surprised to see them, a look that quickly turned to wariness. But he was making no moves to neither do an alarm or attack them. 

Hallendir and Marcurio stopped at the edge of the frozen river, the half-mer standing on the other side. 

“I must admit I did not expect to see you two here,” the half-mer remarked. 

Hallendir raised a brow. “You know who we are?” 

“Yes. You’re Seeker’s escaped prisoners, are you not?” he asked, tilting his head slightly. 

“I suppose so. But we’re not the cause of that thing,” Hallendir said, nodding towards the mountaintop and the Breach. “And I don’t recall being responsible for killing anyone.” _Since arriving here that is. Hurt a few guards, but he doesn’t need to know that._

“Mm-mhm. You’ll have to tell the Seeker that,” the half-mer said with a reserved expression. Hallendir couldn’t tell did he simply not believe her or didn’t care either way. “Why are you on the mountain then, if I may ask?” 

“We hope to see some landmark to tell us where we are. This place is unknown to us,” she replied. And realised she might as well ask this half-mer, since he was at least willing to have a conversation instead of attempting to have them back in prison. Or maybe he was just scared that they’d attack him if he did try to call for help. And hiding it well. 

Marcurio seemed to have the same idea as her. “You wouldn’t mind telling us where we are? We just want to get back home.” 

“You don’t know?” the half-mer asked, surprised by the question. “We’re in the Frostback Mountains, near Haven and the Temple of Sacred Ashes.” 

Frostback Mountains? She didn’t recall a mountain range by that name, not on Skyrim’s borders at least. 

“Which province are we in? Cyrodiil? Skyrim? High Rock?” Hallendir asked. 

The half-mer blinked a few times with a confused expression on his face. “I… I’m not familiar with any of those places.” 

Well. 

That was utterly unexpected. 

Her first thought was that the half-mer was lying. He had to be. There weren’t people so ignorant that they wouldn’t recognise at least Cyrodiil, the heart of the Septim Empire. But he seemed genuine, and Hallendir could not come up with a reason why he’d be lying about not knowing something so obvious. But how could he not know? 

She glanced at Marcurio, who looked as taken aback as she was feeling. 

“Alright. Let me rephrase the question,” she said, keeping her voice calm. “Where on Tamriel are we?” 

The half-mer was silent for a moment, eyes darting from her to Marcurio. “I’m afraid I’ve never heard that name, either. But we’re close to the border between Orlais and Ferelden, if that is helpful.” 

It was not. She’d never heard of those. If he was talking about a border, that meant those two were countries or provinces or something similar. That she had no knowledge of whatsoever. Which meant… 

Questions and theories rose up in her head. It was more and more unlikely this was Tamriel. Were they even on Nirn anymore? Could this be Akavir or some other continent? Or a plane of Oblivion? That apparently had entire countries in it. Was that even possible? Without anyone noticing? 

As she was racking her head for some answer that made sense, the half-mer broke the silence. “I have another question, if I may. You’re...not elvhen, are you?” he said, aiming the question at Hallendir. 

“Elvhen? You mean elf?” 

She herself preferred the term ‘mer’ - coming from the mouths of humans ‘elf’ was usually meant as an insult more often than not - but whatever floated this half-mer’s boat. And this ‘elvhen’ was a new word entirely to her. 

“Yes. You resemble one, but I’ve never seen an elf like you.” 

Hallendir just stared at him, not knowing what to say. She could hear Marcurio snorting in disbelief next to her. 

“You never seen an Altmer?” Marcurio asked, baffled. “Really?” 

“No, I have not. An...Altmer? That is what you are?” Hallendir nodded, still silent. “I see. Well, the people who captured you thought you were an abomination or a demon. They actually asked me to verify that. Or to prove their suspicions wrong, as it were.” 

Demons? Abominations? What? How could she be the first Altmer this half-mer - and now that she thought about it, probably those guards too - had apparently ever seen? 

She took a deep breath. “Look. Do you…” It occurred to her she didn’t know the half-mer’s name. “Pardon, what is your name?” 

He considered for a moment before answering: “Solas.” 

“I’m Hallendir, and this is Marcurio. A pleasure,” she hurriedly introduced them to get back to her original question. “We arrived through that Breach-thing, correct? That is what some people in the town said. Do you know if we can use it to get back home?” 

“I...don’t know.” He looked over at the Breach, frowning. “I have no idea how you even survived coming out of it. And unless your home is somehow in the Fade, I doubt you’ll be able to return where you came from, even if you manage to go through once more.” 

Ah. She didn’t understand all of that, but it sounded like the Breach was no portal. It had felt and looked different from the portals she’d actually used. And they usually didn’t spit out meteors anyway. But that brought another problem. 

That meant they had no plan to return home whatsoever. 

“Well. _Slek_ ,” Hallendir said. 

“No, wait,” Marcurio began speaking with some nervous hand gesturing. “We got here somehow, right? Portals or doorways or whatever we used should go both way, right? If we got in, there has to be a way out.” 

“But in the place with floating islands, there was no portal-” 

The Breach flared, sending out shivers through the clouds and a loud boom echoing on the mountainside. The wind got stronger and Hallendir raised her arm to protect her face from the snow it picked up. 

There was a loud hissing sound from up the road and a green glow appeared behind the slope, but they could not see it’s source. 

Upon noticing the glow the half-mer - Solas - muttered something under his breath that Hallendir didn’t quite catch. However, it was clear from his reaction that whatever the Breach was doing wasn’t good. 

“A rift has opened up ahead,” he told them. 

“A rift?” Marcurio asked. 

“Like the Breach, but smaller. It will continue to tear spirits from the Fade to this side and turn them into demons.” 

“Demons? Are those the strange creatures the falling meteors create? Or summon?” Hallendir asked. 

“That’s- Yes and no. I have no time to explain,” Solas said, shaking his head. He kept his eyes on the green glow, looking troubled. “I have to go. If the Seeker asks me, I will tell her I saw you, but you don’t need to worry about me trying to capture you. We have more important problems to deal with. If you wish to avoid capture, you should probably leave the mountain soon.” 

Hallendir nodded in response. That was rather decent of him, in her opinion. In some other circumstances she might have been offended by the ‘more important problem’ part, but there was no denying that the Breach posed far more of a threat to these people. 

Solas turned to continue his way up the mountain, but paused. “Unless you wish to stay and help, of course,” he said. 

Hallendir was already thinking how to best avoid being seen on their way back down the mountain, but looked up at Solas in surprise. 

She huffed. “We were prisoners and possibly will be executed or at least imprisoned again if caught. Why should we stay, let alone help you?” 

“You have no obligation to. And I can understand if you’re reluctant to help the people who captured you,” Solas admitted, turning to face them and pointing at the Breach with his free hand. “But you should know unless the Breach is sealed, it will continue to spread until there is nowhere to run or hide from it.” 

“You mean it will eventually cover this entire realm?” Hallendir asked. So far she didn’t consider the Breach her problem, but if the creature-spawning meteors and these ‘rifts’ were going to follow them no matter where they went… That was going to be an issue. “How fast will it spread?” 

“I can’t say for certain,” Solas answered. “But sooner it is dealt with, the better.” 

So another doomsday scenario it was. Hallendir let out a tired sigh. She had more experience dealing with those who wanted to control or destroy the world than she’d ever wanted to have. Breach was a new type of threat however - how does one deal with a hole in the sky? Maybe she could Shout it shut? But this wasn’t a decision she felt comfortable doing alone. 

“What do you think?” she asked Marcurio, who was staring the Breach and looking thoughtful. 

He blinked and looked at her. “I- well, if the Breach is that bad, it’s kind of, um, the sort of thing you’re used to dealing with. I’d be extremely happy to just get back home. But if we have no idea of how to return to Skyrim…” 

“Maybe I can strike a some sort of deal with this Seeker? I- _we_ help them with the Breach, they help us find a way home?” 

“Sounds good, if we can be relatively sure that they won’t just try to kill us on sight.” 

“If they won’t talk, we scram.” She’d just have to make sure they’d meet this Seeker in conditions that would allow her and Marcurio bail without too much trouble. Or casualties. 

“Sure. Alright,” Marcurio said. He didn’t seem entirely happy with this situation - and neither was Hallendir herself- but this seemed like their best option. 

Assuming Solas wasn’t lying about the Breach not being able to get them home, that is. Maybe he was just hoping to get them somewhere the army could easily capture them. There would probably be a reward of some kind for bringing them in. 

But Hallendir had spent enough time around thieves and politicians to get rather good at spotting lies. She wouldn’t say she trusted Solas, but so far he hadn’t done or said anything that would make warning bells ring in her head. Whatever Solas hoped to achieve with their aid, he seemed honestly worried by the Breach and the threat it posed. 

Not to mention if they did decide to leave the mountain, Hallendir had no idea what to do once they made it out of the town’s immediate surroundings. 

“Very well. Solas, we’d like to help you with this…” She gestured towards the green glow. “Rift-Breach-thing.” 

“Thank you,” Solas said, smiling. “Let us go, then. We’ll need to hurry if we want to make sure the demons don’t wander off towards Haven.” 

“Lead the way.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Originally I wanted to introduce Varric in this chapter as well, but I changed some stuff and had to re-write half of the chapter. Ah well, it happens.
> 
> Happy New Year 2019!


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter took waaaay longer to finish than I thought. Anyway, here we finally meet the Inquisitor and Varric

Revasi was not used to being so confused. 

Granted, everyone would be at least a tiny bit confused if they had a weird dream-like memory of running away from giant man-eating spiders and meeting a golden elf warrior as tall as a qunari and a human mage in odd robes. Then more running, a hill surrounded by jagged stones, a glowing figure with an ugly hat and then...then… 

Nothing. 

No recollection whatsoever of how had she ended up being detained by a bunch of shemlen and with an ache in her left hand that just wouldn’t go away. 

The two guards dragging her down the corridor were certainly not sharing anything they knew. The shackles around her wrists were uncomfortable, but she had an inkling that comfort was the least of her worries right now. 

The guards brought her into a small room and forced her on her knees, then they moved to stand by the wall as one more human walked into the room. A woman with short black hair in black armor, a scar on her face and an expression fierce enough to send a sylvan running. 

“I hope you can tell us more than your friends,” the black-haired woman said, glaring at Revasi. 

_What?_

“Sorry, friends?” Revasi asked, confused. She’d been the only one sent by the Keeper to the Conclave, to lessen the risk of getting noticed. Who was this shemlen talking about? “What’s going on? Why am I here?” 

“You’re here because you and the two others were found at the Breach after the destruction of the Temple of Sacred Ashes. You with that mark on your hand. Now, _answers_. What were you doing at the Conclave?” the woman asked, crossing her arms. 

“The...destruction of the Temple? What are you talking about? What-” 

What the hell was going on? Had something gone wrong at the Conclave? Had the mages and templars attacked each other? _Fenedhis_ , they were supposed to just talk and make peace, to end the conflict. Not make things worse. 

If that was what had happened. Why couldn’t she recall anything after entering the Temple? 

The woman’s glare got colder. “The Temple of Sacred Ashes is in ruins, the Conclave is gone as is our Divine Justinia. An explosion wiped out them all out.” She closed her eyes for a moment and visibly made an effort to remain calm. “I need to find out what happened and why. So tell me. Why were you at the Temple?” 

“I… I was sent by the clan. I was to simply find out the decision of the Conclave,” Revasi explained, seeing no point in lying. “I didn’t hurt anyone, I swear. I was just going to listen in, then return to my Keeper. That’s all.” 

If the woman was convinced at all, she didn’t show it. “Did you see what caused the explosion?” 

“I- I didn’t see anything like that. Sorry.” 

The woman squinted her eyes at Revasi. “You did not see the massive explosion that devastated the entire Temple of Sacred Ashes and the summit.” 

That sounded like something she definitely should’ve noticed. 

And yet whatever had happened inside the Temple was a blank spot in her memory. 

“I don’t remember what happened after getting into the Temple.” That sounded bad even to her own ears. “Except I saw - there was a tall golden elf and a mage and a glowing figure. But not inside the Temple, it was… somewhere else, I can’t-” 

_Where was that? Why can’t I remember?_

The woman let out a frustrated sigh. 

She kneeled down in front of Revasi and grabbed her left hand that was still hurting. The palm flashed green and a sharp pain ran down the arm, making her grimace. 

“Explain this.” 

Revasi stared at the unnatural green...thing on her palm. She really didn’t like the way it looked. “I...have no idea what that is. It wasn’t there before.” Her hands had been perfectly normal before the Conclave. 

The Keeper would know what to do. Revasi just needed to survive whatever these shemlen had in store for her. Then she could return to her clan. If the Conclave was no more, then her mission was over. 

The black-haired woman gave her a hard look before letting go of her arm and standing up. “I suppose we don’t have much choice…” she seemed to speak mostly to herself. Then she sighed and moved to help Revasi stand up. “Follow me.” 

Revasi wobbled on her legs a bit, but kept up with the woman. After some stairs and few dark corridors they got outside. As they stepped out the massive wooden doors Revasi had to shield her eyes from the bright...green light? 

In the distance she saw the mountain with the Temple of the Sacred Ashes where the Conclave had been held in. But more importantly, there was a huge, green-glowing hole in the sky above it, the clouds swirling around a sickly shade of grey. 

“By the Creators, what is-” she breathed out, unable to finish her question. 

“That is the Breach, a massive rift to the Fade opened by the same explosion that destroyed the Conclave,” the shemlen woman told her. “Other rifts have opened up, but that one is the first and the largest.” 

Revasi stared into the green void. What on Thedas could’ve caused such a tear in the Veil to happen? She was no mage and wasn’t familiar with the realm of the spirits and demons. But it didn’t take a mage to tell that whatever the Breach was it was definitely bad news. 

The massive rift brightened momentarily, the air around it shuddered, and Revasi felt a sharp sting of pain in her left hand like someone had just put a dagger through it. She let out a yelp and fell to her knees. 

The woman looked down at her. “The Breach is slowly expanding and each time it does, the mark on your hand spreads. Given enough time, it will likely kill you,” she said. Was that a tiny bit of sympathy Revasi heard in there somewhere? Nah, she must have imagined it. “The mark might be the only way to stop the Breach, however.” 

Sure, she could see how the shemlen might make that connection. The mark on her hand was green, the Breach was green, it all fit. Except for the fact she still had no idea what the mark was or how was she supposed to use it on a Fade rift. 

“Okay, sure. A question though; how do you expect me to be able to do anything about the Breach? It’s huge and the only thing this- this mark has done so far is hurt like a halla kick to the gut,” Revasi grumbled. 

“We’ll have to find out,” the woman said as she helped Revasi back on her feet. “Come on. We must hurry.” 

_Find out? She doesn’t even know what we’re doing?_ Revasi thought with a rising sense of trepidation. Though she had to admit she herself wouldn’t have the faintest clue on what to do if she was in the same position. Follow the Keeper’s guidance most likely, but neither she or the shemlen had that option. 

The woman kept up a brisk pace as they walked, passing houses and tents with humans doing their chores or just loitering - soldiers, servants, merchants, healers and all sorts of other people. Most of them were glaring at Revasi with accusation and hatred in their eyes. And she’d thought the woman she was following was angry at her. These people looked like they wanted to put her head on a pike. 

She kept her gaze on the black-haired woman’s back, trying her best to ignore the burning gazes. 

“Um. I don’t think I caught your name,” Revasi said just to break the silence. 

“Oh? I am Cassandra Pentaghast, a Seeker of Truth.” 

“A...Seeker? Never heard that title before. Sounds important.” Revasi didn’t know how the chain of command worked in the Chantry or with the Templars. But the title, the well-made armor and the general aura of authority meant she was probably pretty high up. Which was kind of worrying - higher-ups didn’t usually escort captives around. 

Cassandra made a non-committal noise. “And you? What is your name?” 

“Revasi. Of clan Lavellan,“ she answered and continued after a moment of hesitation. “Is there a particular reason everyone is looking at me like they want me dead?” 

As a Dalish elf this kind of attitude wasn’t anything she hadn’t encountered before but usually it showed itself in slurs or people refusing to trade with their kind. This level of hostility was unexpected. 

“Because they believe you’re the one behind the Temple’s destruction and the deaths of the people at the Conclave. And not without reason.” 

“Because I was found up there?” 

“Yes.” 

Revasi wanted to argue, to tell she was innocent - mostly, anyway. But spying on the Conclave was one thing and destroying the entire Temple and opening up a massive Fade rift was another. She wouldn’t have done this, _couldn’t_ have done this. 

But the lack of memories kept her mouth shut, the uncertainty of what had actually transpired at the Conclave. Maybe if they were headed to the Temple, it would jog her memory? And then she could explain what the hell had happened, both to herself and the shemlen. 

They crossed a bridge built over a frozen river, Cassandra shouting orders at the soldiers manning the gates. 

“We’ll have to find a smaller rift in order to test the mark.,” she said, turned to Revasi and took out a knife. Revasi was slightly startled but Cassandra only cut the rope around her wrists. 

She was relieved to finally be able to move her arms and immediately, though carefully, poked at the green-glowing mark on her left palm with her other hand. The skin felt intact, at least. Touching the mark made her fingers feel numb and tingly at the same time. It was strange. 

“So, uh. How does it work?” Revasi asked. The mark still ached but other than that it didn’t do anything. Would she have to punch a Fade rift or something? 

“Like I said, we will have to find out. We simply need to find a rift,” Cassandra replied and continued walking up the path with a hurried pace. 

The Breach loomed ahead, green-flaming rocks falling from it and crashing on the mountainsides. Whatever explosion had created it had to have been huge. And if it had levelled the Temple and killed everyone inside… how was she still alive? 

Cassandra didn’t seem interested in conversation, but Revasi felt like she had to know. She cleared her throat. “Um, so. You said the explosion killed everyone at the Temple. How did I survive?” 

“I’m not certain. The soldiers who found you said all three of you fell out of a Fade rift after the blast. And that there was a woman behind you, in the rift.” 

“Wait, I fell from a rift?” Wouldn’t that mean she’d somehow been in the Fade? She shuddered at the thought. “And the three of us? You mean…” 

“You, the tall elvish one and the mage. You know who they are?” 

“No, I don’t.” 

She hadn’t even been sure they were real and not just a part of a weird dream. If they actually existed and they’d been found together, maybe those two would have some idea of what happened to her and the Conclave? Or know where the mark had come from or how to get rid of it. Or something. 

“Where are they? Could I talk to them?” Had she talked to them? She had the feeling she had, but the contents of their conversation were lost to her. For some reason she had a faint memory that pantomiming had been involved. 

“Unfortunately, no. They escaped a short while ago. How they managed that, we’re not sure,” Cassandra told her, with a not so subtle hint of frustration. 

“Oh.” Well, so much for that. Lucky them. 

“You said you met them before. Do you know what they were doing at the Conclave? And who or what is the odd-looking elf?” Cassandra asked, pausing their walk to look at Revasi intently. 

“No, sorry. I just recall seeing them...in the rift, I suppose. I don’t think they introduced themselves.” As to why the elf was so unnaturally tall and had a golden skin, Revasi could only guess. 

“I see,” Cassandra replied with slight disappointment. “Why do you wish to talk to them, then, if you don’t know them?” 

“To figure out what happened, of course. To the Conclave and to me. Believe me or not, but I honestly don’t remember anything of whatever went wrong inside the Temple. And I want to find out, if only to get rid of this.” She raised the palm with green-glowing streaks. At least it didn’t hurt anymore. 

Cassandra looked at the mark on her hand. “Hm-mh. Very well.” She turned to resume their travel, but paused for a moment. “I’m still not certain what your part in all this is, but I can promise you’ll have a trial. Later. For now, we have to stop the Breach.” 

“I hope we can,” Revasi muttered to herself. 

In silence they made their way up the mountain.  


~:~  


“I believe we can take a moment to rest now,” Solas said, letting one end of his staff rest on the scorched stone floor. 

Hallendir let out a breath and turned her eyes to the odd green rift floating above them. Behind her, Marcurio stretched his hands, trying to ease the tingly feeling his lighting spells sometimes left behind. 

Solas had led them up the mountain road with haste. After a bit of climbing the steep path they had arrived at, well, a ruin. 

It had been a big building or maybe a series of smaller ones. It was hard to tell, since all that was standing were few stone walls and some broken pillars. There were still fires burning whatever wooden furniture or structures still remained and only a thin layer of snow covered the floor, so the damage had to be pretty recent. 

But what rather soon drew their attention was the floating tear in the air in the middle of the ruin. And the pack of creatures surrounding it. Demons, as Solas had called them. Upon noticing the arriving trio the demons roared in anger and rushed at them. 

Hallendir had taken point, since the other two lacked proper armor and close range weapons. There were a couple more demons than she would’ve liked to face all at the same time and one of them did manage to swipe at her temple as she was busy blocking a strike from another demon. But with the spells raining down upon the creatures from Solas and Marcurio and Hallendir soon learning to favor defense over offence, the battle was quickly over and the demons lie melting into the ground. 

As Hallendir cast a minor healing spell to deal with the scratch, she took a glance at Solas. 

“You’re more skillful than I expected, Solas,” she said. With the unimpressive way he dressed and the fact that he carried a staff had made Hallendir expect more of an amateur. 

Solas looked more amused than offended. “Thank you, I suppose.” 

Next to him, Marcurio was frowning. “Did I see correctly that you cast multiple kinds of spells - through your staff?” 

“Yes?” 

“How’s that possible?” 

Solas looked rather confused. “I’m not sure what you mean. Though, I must ask how you focus your spells so well without a staff.” 

Marcurio’s frown deepened. “...what?” 

_Focus? What is he talking about?_ Hallendir pondered. 

A mage didn’t need a staff for spellcasting. Most staves were merely enchanted walking sticks in Hallendir’s opinion. Apparently the people here thought otherwise. 

In any case, they could discuss that later. 

“Solas, the rift.” She nodded at the tear. “Anything we can do to get rid of it? You said it’ll continue to bring out these demons?” 

“Yes, I’m afraid so.” He hesitated for a moment. “I also fear there is nothing we can do to close it.” 

Hallendir’s brows rose. “Nothing? Are you sure?” 

“Unfortunately. In order to close it we need to use the same kind of magic that was used to create the Breach.” 

“I see. And you do not possess this kind of magic?” she asked while turning her eyes to the looming Breach above the mountaintop. Skilled or not, the Breach looked like it was something beyond the abilities of any regular mage. 

“The Dalish elf who was found with you might. The Seeker should-” He paused suddenly, turning his attention to the rift. 

The tear suddenly twisted, the green tendrils surrounding the rift closing in on themselves and crystallising. There was a loud sound, like glass breaking, and then the tear ripped open, momentarily filling the ruin with its bright green light. And out of the rift fell several dark shapes. More demons. 

“Already? Shouldn’t the rift run out of these things at some point?” Marcurio asked no-one in particular. 

“Unlikely. We simply need to buy some time. The Seeker should bring the Dalish elf soon,” Solas replied. He sent an icicle at a demon that appeared to be made out of lava. “Until then, we have to make sure none of the demons get past us to the village.” 

_I sure hope this will be worth the effort,_ Hallendir thought as she drew away from another demon’s reckless swipe. She used the opportunity to raise her free hand and blast the demon’s face - or where the face should’ve been - with Incinerate. The creature flew back screaming in pain and knocking down a few of its allies. 

The next two demons charged at her at the same time. She took a step back, raising her blade and getting ready to block the strikes. Before they reached her the other one all of a sudden twitched and stumbled. As it’s form began to melt, Hallendir could see a bolt sticking out from its neck. 

She sidestepped to avoid the remaining demon’s attack. With two swift slashes of her blade and another fire spell the demon was soon dealt with, and Hallendir turned her eyes to the mountainside, looking in the general direction the bolt had come from. 

Up the road there were three figures running towards them. Two were human, wielding drawn shortswords and wearing a light leather armor with the same insignia as the soldiers in the village. The third one was a short man, in an outfit befitting a noble or a merchant, and with a large crossbow in hand. 

The two humans paused briefly - probably noticing exactly who they were heading towards - then one of them said something to the other and they continued hurrying towards the rift. Hallendir prepared to defend herself, but the two humans attacked the demons instead. 

_At least they have the sense to see the common enemy._

With the new aid, the rest of the demons fell swiftly and the rift went dormant once more. For now. 

Hallendir backed away from the remains of the demon she’d just slain and towards Marcurio and Solas. She wasn’t sure what would Solas do if there was a fight with the soldiers, but hopefully he wouldn’t backstab them at least. 

The soldiers approached, their weapons still out and wary looks on their faces. 

“You two,” the shorter one, a woman said. “You’re the escaped prisoners.” 

Hallendir didn’t really see the point in denying that. “Yes, we are. Though I’d like to point out you have no just reason to imprison us. None of this-” She gestured to the Breach and the ruins around them, “is our doing.” 

The other soldier spoke out. “Silence! As if we’d believe a word you say.” He raised his sword to point at them.” Drop your weapons and surrender! The Seeker and Lady Leliana will decide your fate.” 

Hallendir squeezed the handle of her Nightingale Blade but kept it pointing towards the ground. If she was to make a deal with these people, fighting the soldiers would be a poor start. But there was no chance in Oblivion she’d go back to being a prisoner. 

“We will not surrender,” she stated. “But neither do we wish to antagonise your organisation further. So how about you lower your sword and let us talk like civilised people.” 

The soldier did not lower his sword. The woman spoke, “We can talk after you put down your weapons and yield.” She also raised her sword, anger in her voice. “You’re suspected of the murder of the Divine Justinia and the destruction of the Temple of Sacred Ashes. Now. _Surrender_.” 

Hallendir’s lips thinned and her grip on the blade’s handle tightened. “We will not. _You_ lower your swords.” She could hear Marcurio shift behind her. What Solas was doing other than staying quiet she had no idea. 

“Whoa, hey hey, why don’t we all calm down a bit?” A warm, jovial voice came from behind the soldiers. The short man with the crossbow approached them with gloved hands up and a broad smile on his face. He stopped to stand somewhat in between the soldiers and Hallendir’s group. 

Hallendir had never quite seen someone like him, but if he was going to be the voice of reason to these fetchers, she wasn’t going to argue his intervention. 

“Ser Tethras, your help is appreciated but this is a Chantry matter,” the woman said, only glancing at him, keeping her glare and blade pointed at Hallendir. 

His smile didn’t falter. “Right, sure. I’m just saying, if they’re the ones who caused all this, I don’t know why they’d be here fighting demons and not half-way to Orlais by now.” 

“Exactly! Please listen to the smart person,” Marcurio said, stepping forward. “Also, we’re here because Solas here asked for our help, with stopping the Breach from ending the world or consuming it or whatever.” 

Solas made a face like he really would have preferred not to be dragged into this, but he did nod in agreement. “Indeed, I did ask for them to aid us. We need all the help we can get to close the Breach. Finding out who’s guilty of what can wait until the threat is over.” 

Hallendir wasn’t quite happy with how he phrased it. The woman soldier’s glare turned to Solas and she opened her mouth to say something, but Hallendir hurried to speak first. “We would be happy to discuss these accusations with your leaders and clear up the situation. Once the Breach is dealt with.” 

_Or hopefully by then we’ll have figured out a way to get home and we can leave this place behind_ , Hallendir thought to herself. 

The soldiers looked like they very much wanted to argue. But eventually the woman lowered her sword, and the man followed suit. They looked anything but pleased however. 

The woman let out a breath. “Very well. But know if you attempt to escape in any way or you point your spells at us, we will not hesitate to attack you. So you better behave yourselves.” 

“Fantastic. Will do,” Marcurio replied before Hallendir could tell the soldier what she thought of her threats. 

The soldiers just scoffed and walked some distance away to talk quietly in private. Maybe they were trying to come up with a plan to capture them anyway. Or perhaps they were just wondering how to explain the situation to their higher-ups. 

Hopefully the Seeker would be a bit more calm and sensible than those two. 

“Whew, that was a bit too close for comfort,” Marcurio said. 

“You can say that again,” the short man agreed. “The way you guys fought the demons, I’d be a little more hesitant to tangle with you.” 

“Thank you. And your intervention was most welcome, Ser… Tethras, was it?” Hallendir asked, having to look down at the man who was about half her height. 

“Don’t mention it. The Seeker and her people are a bit too eager to lock up people anyway, if you ask me,” he said. “And the name is Varric Tethras, but just Varric is fine.” 

“I’m Hallendir. Pleasure to make your acquaintance.” 

“Marcurio Callidus. And thank you from me as well.” 

“No problem. Chuckles I’ve already met,” Varric said, nodding at Solas, who bowed slightly in acknowledgement. “So, he asked for your help and you just decided to do that? With all the soldiers running around the mountain?” 

_Chuckles? Odd choice for a nickname._ “Not ideal course of action, I agree,” Hallendir conceded. “But unfortunately we’re a bit… lost.” 

“Did I actually hear you admit that?” Marcurio asked with a smirk, probably referring to the few times Hallendir’s explorations had taken longer than intended. A few unintentional detours here and there didn’t mean they were lost, though. 

“I don’t know, do your poor human ears hear anything?” Hallendir countered. Both Varric and Solas raised their eyebrows at that, while Marcurio just snorted. Hallendir cleared her throat. “Anyway. Can I ask what are you doing here, Varric? You don’t seem to be a part of this particular group.” 

“The Chantry? You serious?” he asked with a laugh. 

Perplexed as to why that was an amusing question, Hallendir merely blinked in reply. 

“You know, me, a dwarf? Part of the Chantry?” Varric questioned a bit hesitantly this time. 

Now she was very confused. Varric was clearly not a mer. “You’re no Dwemer.” 

“Pretty sure I said dwarf.” 

“You did, but-” Hallendir started, but stopped. Maybe this was just one of those things that were different in this place, like Solas’ staff and not a single person having seen an Altmer. “Never mind.” 

“Right. So, if you don’t mind me asking… You look kinda different than any elf I’ve seen before,” Varric said. 

Hallendir held back a sigh. Was this going to be a common conversation? “I’m an Altmer. A High Elf, in the common tongue.” 

“High, huh?” Varric grinned, looking up at Hallendir. 

“Subtle, I know,” Marcurio said. 

While Hallendir did want to explain to them the linguistic origins of the word didn’t have that much to do with their height - which Marcurio probably knew and was just being an arse - she really didn’t feel like it and decided to just ignore their comments. 

“I must admit I’m a little surprised to see you here, Varric,” Solas said. “You did not leave for Kirkwall?” 

Varric shrugged and gave a half-smile. “I was about to, but, well. Then the Breach and all that shit happened. Figured they could use some help.” 

“That is very decent of you,” Solas said. 

Varric huffed and his eyes shifted to the rift. And then he frowned. 

“Uh. Is it just me or is the rift starting to look alive again?” 

They all turned to look at the tear that was showing signs of opening again - the rift spun in the air, a hum rising as it’s green glow got brighter. 

“Prepare for a fight!” Solas shouted, getting the attention of the two soldiers. Upon noticing the rift’s movement, they also got ready for a fight. 

They didn’t have to wait long until the rift flared and opened. The dark shapes of demons poured out to the stone floor, twitching and hissing as they rose. 

The creatures attacked them as soon as they spotted them. Hallendir and the two soldiers formed a defensive line between the charging demons and the mages and Varric. The demons had no strategy, no plan - they simply lunged towards the person closest to them. 

Three rushed at Hallendir, but two of them fell to a bolt and a lighting spell before they made it close enough to attack. 

She dodged the third demon’s strike and plunged the Nightingale Blade deep into it’s back. The creature trashed for a moment, but a hasty lighting spell to it’s neck made it go still. 

As the dead demon melted of her blade, in the midst of the battle she heard a faint shout from somewhere behind her. Another yell answered it, and now Hallendir could tell the noises were coming from the mountain path she and the others arrived from earlier. 

Looking over her shoulder, she saw two figures hurry over the ridge, heading towards them and the rift. And then they stopped. 

Hallendir recognised the dark-skinned half-mer they’d met in the peculiar realm of floating islands. And the other was the one called Seeker, a human woman with black hair and black armor. 

And the Seeker looked furious.


End file.
